According to the concept of balance proposed by Fritz Heider, imbalance is found when :

(i) All three sides of the P-O-X triangle are negative.

(ii) Two sides of the P-O-X triangle are negative and one side is positive.

(iii) Two sides of the P-O-X triangle are positive and one side is negative.

(iv) All three sides of the P-O-X triangle are positive.

Q: According to the concept of balance proposed by Fritz Heider, imbalance is found when : (i) All three sides of the P-O-X triangle are negative. (ii) Two sides of the P-O-X triangle are negative and one side is positive. (iii) Two sides of the P-O-X triangle are positive and one side is negative. (iv) All three sides of the P-O-X triangle are positive.

**Correct option: (C) (i) and (iii) only** — a P-O-X triad is imbalanced when the product of the signs of its three relationships is negative, which happens with an odd number of negative sides (all three negative, or exactly one negative).

Attitude and Social Cognition

Attitude Change – Heider's Balance Theory (P-O-X Model)

Options

(A)(i) and (ii) only

(B)(ii) and (iv) only

(C)(i) and (iii) only

(D)(ii) only

Official Answer

Correct option: (C) (i) and (iii) only — a P-O-X triad is imbalanced when the product of the signs of its three relationships is negative, which happens with an odd number of negative sides (all three negative, or exactly one negative).

Heider balance theoryP-O-X modelcognitive consistencyattitude changebalanced triadimbalanced triadodd number of negatives

Marking Scheme

11 mark: correct option (C) — (i) and (iii) only.

Hint

Multiply the three signs: an ODD number of negative relationships (one or three) gives imbalance; an EVEN number (zero or two) gives balance.

Quick Oral Answer

A P-O-X triad is imbalanced when the product of its three relationship signs is negative — that happens with all three negative, or exactly one negative — so the answer is (C).

Analysis & Explanation

This is a conceptual application question requiring the multiplicative rule of Heider's balance theory rather than rote memorisation.

The rule: multiply the signs of the three relationships in the P-O-X triangle (Person–Other–object/attitude object). If the product is positive, the triad is balanced; if negative, it is imbalanced.

Checking each statement:

(i) All three negative: $(-)\times(-)\times(-)$ = negative → imbalanced. TRUE.
(ii) Two negative, one positive: $(-)\times(-)\times(+)$ = positive → actually balanced, NOT imbalanced. FALSE.
(iii) Two positive, one negative: $(+)\times(+)\times(-)$ = negative → imbalanced. TRUE.
(iv) All three positive: $(+)\times(+)\times(+)$ = positive → balanced, NOT imbalanced. FALSE.

Why the distractors are wrong:

(A) wrongly includes (ii), which is actually balanced (even number of negative sides).
(B) wrongly includes (iv), which is fully balanced, and omits (i), which is genuinely imbalanced.
(D) captures only one of the two correct imbalanced cases, missing (i).

Common Mistakes

1Assuming imbalance simply means 'more negative signs than positive', instead of applying the odd/even-negative-count (product-of-signs) rule.
2Treating 'two negatives, one positive' as automatically imbalanced by intuition, when it is actually balanced by Heider's multiplicative rule.
3Forgetting to check the all-negative case (i), which is also genuinely imbalanced.

Interesting Facts

Fritz Heider proposed balance theory in 1958, describing how people strive for cognitive consistency among their attitudes toward a person, another person, and an object/idea connecting them (the P-O-X triangle).

Balance theory is considered a precursor to Leon Festinger's more influential Cognitive Dissonance Theory, which similarly argues people are motivated to reduce psychological inconsistency.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the P-O-X model?

It is Fritz Heider's model of three relationships forming a triangle: between a Person (P), an Other person (O), and an object or attitude (X) — used to analyse whether attitudes among the three are balanced or imbalanced.

How do you quickly decide if a triad is balanced?

Multiply the signs (+ or –) of the three relationships. If the product is positive, the triad is balanced; if negative, it is imbalanced — equivalently, an even number of negative relationships means balance, and an odd number means imbalance.